Magic City Casino

By: Anastasia Vaughan

For the entire month of July 2012 Magic City Casino of Miami Florida created a promotion designed to get Florida residents who did not live close to the casino located near Miami International Airport to travel there in order to receive what the casino called “miles of free play.” The promotion was to work as followed. A person who came to the casino was to receive specific dollar amounts of free play based on travel from Broward county $50, Monroe $25 or distant areas of Miami Dade county such as Homestead $25 was to receive gambling funds on a card which was only good for playing the machines in the casino.

The promotion was suppose to last everyday for all 31 calendar days of the month of July according to the ads that were advertised representing Magic City. However, shortly after the month began the status of their promises changed. Initially the casino promised to give potential patrons who traveled from far distances from the hours of 10 am to 12am each day the opportunity to test their luck with their machines. Not surprisingly by as early as July 4^th the casino made new rules which did not reflect in their ongoing television ads as they did not hesitate to stop giving away free plays from as early as 8:30 pm in the night and told patrons that they weren’t giving away the next days free play until 10 am sharp.

As cracks began to show through the seams of the casino’s promises they began to reflect in customer dissatisfaction as well as you could look around and see various groups of angry customers complaining and walking away into the parking lot of Magic City feeling ripped off just to say the least.

A few days later a friend of mine called me to tell me that they stopped by on a Monday just to check out the $50 free play and was told by the staffs now beefed up security that the free play would only be given out on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays between the hours of 10 am to 9 pm every hour on the hour. By Sunday July 22^nd 2012 I decided to venture out cross county using nothing more than public transportation to get me to the Magic City in hopes of having one of my magical money winning fantasizes come true. Determined to succeed at redeeming my free play for the simple reason of having traveled so far from Hollywood to Miami I felt I couldn’t lose. After all I wasn’t like those other play it by ear amateurs I had an itinerary to follow. Armed with confidence and the essential ignorance that all the people who felt ripped off from the experience were simply unusually unlucky I set out to take on the promises of the Magic City.

July 22, 2012 Sunday

{Journey from Sheridan Street to Miami International Area Magic City}

7:00 AM: The morning begins as I rise to get what I perceive to be an early start to catch the 9am tri-rail train heading southbound to Miami International Airport/Hialeah Market station.

8:00AM: Ate a hearty breakfast to fight off the competitive crowds I’d soon face.

8:30 AM: Headed out the door to catch the train.

9:15 AM: Boarded Tri-rail to the get to the very last stop.

9:45 AM: Tri-rail arrives at Miami International Airport /Hialeah Market Station

9:50 AM: I find out that I am to board a free shuttle bus called the 133 in order to head out directly to Miami International Airports’ 1^st floor terminal.

10:03AM: I get off the shuttle bus and am immediately redirected to Car rental/Bus/ Train station mover which will take me to the all inclusive multi-functioning terminal.{The station mover is brand new and at this point is experiencing its very 1^st day of service at MIA. The lobby area is a beautiful while tiled indoor area of the airport in the center of airport where the area is conveniently placed in a cubbyhole like partition to the right side in the center of the terminus. The atmosphere is a mixture of the train station waiting platform in the Harry Potter movies a digitally modernized version of the various scenes you see in the Tom Hanks movie The Terminal. All if the signs speak in soothing electronic female tones for your convenience. A mover comes every 60 seconds between platforms.} As you look around it isn’t hard to fall madly in love numerous digital color palates that give MIA an extra warm cozy feeling with a modern twist. On a special side note thumps up Miami Dade county no one is doing the digital futures state of travel quite like you guys are at the moment. The mover takes me to its one an only allotted stop and as soon as I make my way over to the bus station area I seek to board MDT’s bus 37 heading to South Miami.

10:08 AM: The bus takes off I will be there shortly by 10:25 Am at the latest.

10:28 AM: Just as I approach the casino’s doors I am told right away that the tickets for free play give away are finished for the day. The last ticket was handed out at around 10:17 AM to a person who had been waiting since 6 AM to make their way inside. Beefy security guards encourage me to enter the casino for gambling purposes only yet get aggressive towards me in their discouragement from talking to staff members on the matter. As I stood in line wanting to ask as many question as I could security quickly pulls me out of line blocking even my view of the members club window encouraging me to spend the money I have in there casino without the satisfaction of having any of my really tough questions answered. There is a small crowd attempting to gather at the window in vain attempts to see if they could bargain even $10 or less dollars out of the casino security quickly ceased an bulled them out of getting out of line also. I was told by a gentleman who lived in the area that people started lining up as early as 4AM and that had we got there even a little after 8 AM I wouldn’t have made the cut.

By the time I exit out if the casino one this is painfully clear and that Magic City is place of constant flip-flopping. As I am on the last gate out I run into another Broward county resident who said that this would have her been her 3^rd time getting free play. Ashe also went on to say “when they give you the card for free play once you are playing long enough not only do you not win anything unless you use your own cash but the card just starts ringing up error, error, each time you try to receive games.” By the looks of things Magic City may simply be one filled with magical con men. I get closer to the bus stop and once I board bus MDT’S 37 heading in the direction of Hialeah I contemplate how things should have been glad I didn’t give them a dime of my hard earned money.

The Things that should have been put in place for this promotion:

1^st: A person shouldn’t have been able to redeem free play more than once.

2^nd: The promotion should have started out only 3 days a week.

3^rd: Perhaps the promotion should have consisted of less money in the giveaway.

4^th: They should have kept their word on only giving out cards once an hour every hour on the hours for the amounts of hours the casino felt they could afford.

5^th: Tampering with the card/machines is the ultimate way for customers to distrust you.

To sum things all up I give this casino a D – grade as it tried to pull out several unusual tricks that didn’t always work in there favor like classic magical con artist.